Pool is around 20 years old, I've lived here for 3 years. Previous owners lived here for 18 months. Essentially, my Jandy RS-8 board bonked out last October, along with most of the other components. iAqualink 2.0 has never worked for me. At the moment, we have it jerry-rigged to always run the filter and one pump unless I turn off the breaker. After many, many frustrating months I finally found a pool company who has: actually responded to me, said they serviced my area, made an appointment to come out and give a quote on replacing it, and actually showed up. (I have gone through 10 or 11 companies at this point - all highly rated - and am ready to tear my hair out because only THREE have shown up, and neither of the other two followed up with the quote. He was the first one to both actually show up AND to give me an estimate).
During the course of the quote, he seemed surprised that I have a sand filter and said it was one of the few he'd seen in the entire week. The previous owners replaced the existing filter (unknown) with a sand filter, so it can't be older than 2017. Pool guy said he recommended replacing it with a cartridge filter, which adds over 2K to the quote. I'm honestly torn. If I was replacing the filter anyway, yeah, I go with a cartridge. But I had no plans on it, and I can't see that it adds 2K worth of value right now. However, I *know* I'm lax about backwashing, I hate doing it: it turns my yard into a muddy mess; it throws my water chemistry off; the hose is piped to go out through the most ridiculously aggravating part of the yard to get to; and I just generally get grumpy about it so I don't do it nearly as much as I should. In addition, I'm thinking about converting to a SW pool within the next year or so, and I know it would be easier to keep stable with a cartridge filter.
Would it be worth it? We had a cartridge filter when I was a kid, so I vaguely remember what it entails. While it doesn't seem like quite as much hassle as the sand, would any of you say it's worth the extra 2K+? Is this just the PB trying to upsell me with something I don't need? Total quote right now is $5.3K which is a hard pill to swallow. I can do it, but unless it would make life significantly easier or better, I'd rather not.
During the course of the quote, he seemed surprised that I have a sand filter and said it was one of the few he'd seen in the entire week. The previous owners replaced the existing filter (unknown) with a sand filter, so it can't be older than 2017. Pool guy said he recommended replacing it with a cartridge filter, which adds over 2K to the quote. I'm honestly torn. If I was replacing the filter anyway, yeah, I go with a cartridge. But I had no plans on it, and I can't see that it adds 2K worth of value right now. However, I *know* I'm lax about backwashing, I hate doing it: it turns my yard into a muddy mess; it throws my water chemistry off; the hose is piped to go out through the most ridiculously aggravating part of the yard to get to; and I just generally get grumpy about it so I don't do it nearly as much as I should. In addition, I'm thinking about converting to a SW pool within the next year or so, and I know it would be easier to keep stable with a cartridge filter.
Would it be worth it? We had a cartridge filter when I was a kid, so I vaguely remember what it entails. While it doesn't seem like quite as much hassle as the sand, would any of you say it's worth the extra 2K+? Is this just the PB trying to upsell me with something I don't need? Total quote right now is $5.3K which is a hard pill to swallow. I can do it, but unless it would make life significantly easier or better, I'd rather not.
Its here!! Its here!! Masters week is here! 
